Category: gmoses

By Greg Moses

Both the War Resisters League and Martin Luther King, Jr. were born in the 1920s, the decade after the Great War. And both have worked to stop the cycles that compel us to simply rename our failures. The Great War had to be renamed World War I; today we rename Gulf Wars, the better to number them as they come along.

Against great and persistent structures of violence, King and WRL built movements of resistance, seeking to end something, stop something, prevent something from happening again. This kind of work—the stopping kind—continues. Whether World War or Gulf War, who needs a number three?

http://www.warresisters.org/nva0105-2.htm

Good Article: I’m talking about the one in counterpunch about the Christian Left. The groups you mentioned all vote for progressive political candidates, or at least for those who are relatively more progressive than the alternative. But in my opinion there are many, many scattered Christians with progressive tendencies that are not being courted by the progressive movement. And what the Right has been doing, and succeeding, is capturing the sensibilities of these people by preying, dishonestly in my opinion, on their Christian sympathies. And they’ve been doing it with just one issue – abortion.

I grew up a Catholic, working class origin, and all those around me that were both Catholic and working class were all Democrats (forgetting for the moment about their “sins” as well). Over the years however, I have witnessed traditional Catholic support for the Democratic party erode, and many Catholics switch sides over to the Republicans simply because they cannot in clear conscience support a party that advocates what they consider infanticide. As a Catholic, I find that the political and economic policies of the Republican party are tantamount more with a “culture of death” than any pro-abortion stance, but this is because I am an ideological Catholic and not a ritual Catholic.

The Right in America knows how to play hardball; we should acknowledge this. But it is merely using the moral issue of abortion as a stepping-stone towards a greater evil – the complete elimination of the welfare state. This is the Right’s true agenda. As for me, the welfare state amounts to “God’s handiwork on earth”, and if I had to choose between the preservation of a welfare state without abortion versus a social-Darwinist state with or without abortion, I’d choose the former simply because that would be the greater good – and I’m not even an utilitarian when it comes to ethics. People on the left better start to realize, and realize quickly, that to bring the majority of voters back into the progressive fold, that they must take seriously the bedrock moral beliefs of the “average guy”. Otherwise, welcome to America, where the “rule of law” is dog eat dog, AND where a woman will not have a right to choose.

–anonymous via email

Reply: Thanks for the thoughtful email. I hear your pain and disappointment in the face of the American Right. As a tonic to it all, I follow Angela Davis in recommending less talk about abortion, more talk about reproductive rights. And since this is Women’s History Month, enough already about “the average guy.” I have had one too many conversations with alleged progressives who refuse to speak in demographic terms that have some sociological coherence. And this is why the left is losing. It has no strategic vocabulary beyond liberal punditry. So allow me to rephrase the problem, the left’s attack on the right always forgets the people who must serve as logic’s middle term.

I want to say only a few words about hanging out briefly with the IndyMedia folks in Austin over the weekend. I attended a workshop on Ethics, a lecture by Doug Kellner, a presentation by Amy Goodman, and a de-brief business meeting. This is a fascinating group of folks doing heroic work in the media wars. There are ‘over 160’ local sites across the globe, managed by volunteer collectives who practice anarchist methods of organization (NOT an oxymoron). I was impressed by the ability of these folks to come together, organize themselves, and conduct thoughtful group discussions. There is more to say, but I’m going to let things settle for a bit before speaking more. Meanwhile, please visit your local IndyMedia website and post a story about what you or your group is doing today! It’s really easy to do.

Also, check out the IndyMedia national (small n) website that harvests the best of the US locals.

Peacefile is very pleased to see the following introduction by John Wilmerding, who distributed the “Taking Back Jesus” article below via his listserv at CERJ.

CERJer Manuel Garcia said that I would like this article. He’s right.

Naturally it features a “famous” CERJer, John Stoner, and the project he heads up, Every Church A Peace Church, with which several CERJers have strong supportive relationships.

On another note, I can confirm that close CERJ contact Emilee Whitehurst, a Texas native, ordained minister, graduate of Harvard Divinity School, and a brilliant peace and social justice activist whose career we are following closely, has heard her native state’s cries in a time of great need, returned there recently from Kansas, and has just been appointed the new Executive Director of Austin (TX) Interfaith Ministries! Congratulations, Emilee! A better placement for her, and for that organization, I cannot imagine. You heard the news here first….

— John Wilmerding

On the other hand, a reader from L.A. reminds us that left religion is still an oxymoron for some (many?):

“It’s alright to talk about heaven if we put shoes on people’s feet.”

No it isn’t. Religion has traditionally legitimated oppressive power, including slavery, and ideologically disarmed the population, including slaves, with spiritual delusions. Human spirituality exists, but has been eclipsed by the historic compromise of science and religion. Scientific cretinism on one hand, religous delusion on the other. People gain spritual stength by believing in something bigger than themselves, but that bigger something should be people, humanity, the past, present and future persons of the earth.

The biggest historical problem of humanity at the present time in history is not political, but moral and spiritual. We need a moral and spiritual ideology to unite the population against the power systems legitimated by religion.